Yum

Today's smoothie comes to us, in part, thanks to my parents fresh grown spinach in their garden! Thanks mom and dad- it tastes great!

Though while washing some of the spinach I found a live pincher bug who thought it would take a free ride in my vitamix- well it did take a ride, but down the garbage disposal!

Also- I signed up for another Half Marathon run today! I'm crazy! It's a run I came across in one of my magazines- it's amazing how many runs are out there going on all the time- you just gotta look for them and I am looking. This run is the "Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon", it's August 4th! Can't wait!

Seattle Rock N Roll Marathon and Half Marathon....

The weekend is finally here! Jeromy and I both had Friday off from work so we could go to the Expo for the Seattle Marathon and 1/2. Jason and my cousin Laura were also going, with their son Kyle and daughter Hannah. Laura, Kyle and I were running. Jeromy, Jason and Hannah were there for emotional support! We ended up taking the same 3:00 ferry over to Seattle- yo!! Kyle what's up... I think you can tell we're related here- the awesomeness is shining thru....

So it was supposed to rain all weekend, so lame, it was totally bumming me out. I think Kyle was getting tired of my whining, he finally said " sometimes you just have to say... challenge accepted", meaning get over it and just deal with it. I can, I was going to run no matter what but I couldn't help being bummed about the rain.

So Jeromy and I decided we were going to walk over and just walk to/from stuff... but it was raining. And Jason and Laura drove, so they were gracious enough to drive us. First we headed over to the Expo. Here we were picking up our numbers, T-shirts, and then they having booths that have everything to do with running. So fun and exciting!

 That's me. Jeromy took all the pictures this weekend, and there are alot of me so get ready...

Here's my new T-shirts, the white one is the one all the runners got that registered to run. The light blue one is anther shirt I bought at the Expo, they had so many cool and funny shirt. When Jason saw this blue one he said "Who's Bo?" Hahaha, very funny, no more splenda for you! These are both tech style shirts, love 'em. I also got the 13.1 magnet and the pin.

At the Expo I also pre-registered... wait for it... for next year's FULL MARATHON!!! That's right, next year in 2013 I will be running in my first Marathon that's 26.2 miles... so scary! But I've run 4 half marathons now and I feel pretty good, so we'll see what this next year brings.

 After the Expo, the amazing Smith fam drove us all to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner and we all loaded up on carbs. I think I over did it in the cheese department- way over did it. My stomach was not happy with me all weekend. :o(  But everything tasted so good! Here's Jason holding sweet little Hannah, she was so adorable sharing her mini Reece's peanut butter cups! She slept thru dinner!

 Ok, so yeah, I ate tooo much at dinner, and with the excitement of the run, I didn't sleep very well, that usually happens, but that darn cheese did NOT help! I had about 4-5 hours of sleep. Here's Kyle, me and Laura bright and early at 6 am in the hotel lobby getting ready to walk to the starting line. They changed the route this year so it was with-in walking distance, about a mile, but Jeromy still walked us all to the starting line cause it's Seattle after all and I just wanted him there. He's so sweet! For some reason in this picture we all have scary yellow eyes!

Can I just say what a great God we have? He answers even the littlest prayers. I had been praying for just a little window of "no rain" for the morning. That morning Jeromy had checked the forecast hour by hour, and every hour said "RAIN RAIN RAIN". So we started walking to the start and there was no rain. I was shocked. The sky totally looked like it was going to rain any second. I was so happy, it just made my day. Here are the 3 of us getting ready to get in our places. 

 There were 22,000 or 25,000 runners in this race (can't remember the number) and it was sold out. So to have so many runners they have us start in different corals. And it's determined by what you guesstimate your finishing time to be. Kyle was in coral #3, cause he's crazy fast. Laura was in coral # 22, and I was in coral # 31. I know the corals went up into the 40's but I have no idea how many there were total. You can see coral #19 in this picture and they just go on as far as your eye can see, same with the people...

The starting line was pretty much right in front of the space needle... Laura and I...

Jeromy and I... you can really tell by my eyes how bad my sleep was- youch!

Then we were off. While Jeromy waited for us to finish, he hung out with Jason and Hannah. He also took this picture. The weather was really weird. That's the space needle, but the top is covered in cloud/fog... must be weird for the people up in the very top!

Thru out the run, I felt pretty good (bad cheese considered) and I just prayed and thanked God thru out the run for feeling healthy, for having no injuries, to spend time with my family,  for my awesome mom and dad spoiling my kids back home and for the amazing weather. Not only did it not rain, but we were getting some blue skies and sun- God is so good!

I did the half marathon which is 13.1 miles, Jeromy got this picture of me running- see me in the back? I just passed the 12 mile marker, so you know I am tired and wanting this to be done...

But I was so happy about the weather I just kept smiling...

Here I am after the race, they handed out all kinds of yummy snack food at the end. I got a bagel, banana, strawberry-banana smoothie, water, Gatorade, snickers power bar and some other stuff... so good! There's the space needle again clear of the fog. And see that blue sky? It was supposed to rain all morning!

There's that cheesy smile again! Got my medal when I crossed the finish line, but now we are back at the hotel and I'm about to take a much needed shower! We were staying a second night at the hotel, so we didn't have to rush to the ferry like we have done the last 2 years.  What a great run! Just feeling great after this run makes me feel pretty good about taking on the full marathon next year. Still scary tho...

After a long hot shower, and laying in bed for about 3 hours, we finally drug ourselves to the Cheesecake factory! Oh no we didn't- oh yes we did! You'd think I'd learn my lesson after last night's cheesy fiasco. Apparently not.

We got these delicious avocado eggrolls. They were so yummy. I did get a low fat dinner, but then  I got a huge slice of peanut butter chocolate cheesecake... cheesecake factory style. Nope, did not learn my lesson. I did eat that cake over the course of several hours that evening. But my stomach ache also followed me thur out the day and into the evening. So lame. So I recovered from the run and my legs felt pretty good after, but my stomach was messed up all weekend. I'll learn one of these days.

Jeromy found my stats! The race started at 7am, but since I was in coral #31, I didn't officially start till 7:51am, but they have these timing chips we attatch to our shoes, and while running they have these strips over the road thru out the race, so as you run over it it's calculating the time and recording it for me to see later. Yep, sometimes technology is pretty amazing. This is one of those times. I train at a 10 minute mile, and I averaged a 10:15 mile, not too shabby!

Also, I PR'ed (personal record)!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Barely! Last year I ran the half marathon in:

 2 hours, 14 minutes and 58 seconds.

This year I ran it in:

 2 hours, 14 minutes and 16 seconds!

It's only 42 seconds faster but it is faster woo-hoo!

God is good!

More stuff...

Since the kids graduated a week apart from each other they weren't wearing their cap and gown at the same time, but I wanted a picture of them both wearing it for 2012. So the kids put them back on so I could get a cool picture. Sooo coooool!!

 Their 2012 balloons!

 Such sweet faces. Jade graduating from college and Kenton graduating from high school!

Oh- and Jade had re-taken her knowledge test for her driver's license, and she passed this time woo-hoo! Now she has the driving test July 6th, and if she passes that she will be a legal driver! So exciting.

Soooooon...

In about 48 hours I will be running a HALF MARATHON in the Rock and Roll Seattle run... can't wait!

KENTON GRADUATES FROM HIGH SCHOOL!!!

OK- LET ME REPEAT THAT:

KENTON HAS GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL!!!

Kent was an "off-campus" homeschooler, but actually was a running start student going to OC full time, but he has also finished the requirements to graduate from high school this June, and since his "home" school is Central Kitsap, that is the commencement ceremony he participated in. He knew a few kids from when he actually attended high school his sophomore year. So exciting....

Again, there was the usual crowd, Jeromy, me, Aurora, grandma Cindy and grandpa Lee, Kent's dad Josh and grandma Claire and then JADE! This time she was watching the graduation from the bleachers instead of the one graduating. Isn't she a cutie-pie?

 After the ceremony, all the families went outside to meet up with their graduate. So glad it wasn't raining. Here's Josh with the kids. You can definitely tell they look like their dad.

 I love those kids so much. I just can't stand it. Such good looking kiddos, and they both have such great hearts...

 Our family...

Did I mention how handsome he is?

 Outside the pavilion they had this cool piece of artwork...

 Kenton-Orion....

 So after the graduation, it was after 9pm, but the kids I had to go back out to Albertsons to get some last minute things for the big graduation party for Kent the next day... and Aurora and Jade stayed up till midnight to help me frost the cupcakes. I stayed up till 1:30 to finish frosting. I baked a total of 120 cupcakes to make the cool 2012 cupcake grid like I did for Jade's 2010 graduation... so much fun...

 Here's the cupcake grid, see the 2012? It's kinda weird if you stand right in front of the cupcakes it's hard to see the numbers but from a distance the numbers just pop out. See Kent's school pictures framing the cupcakes. Love that face if I didn't already mention it.

So bright and early Jade was up making her delicious lumpia! I told Kent we would get all his favorite foods for his graduation. He wanted Jade's lumpia, she made 4 times as much as she usually makes and it all got eaten- YUMMY JADE!

 My mom also came bright and early in the morning to help me get ready, she cup up all the croissants and meats, cheeses, tomatoes, onions and lettuce. Aurora helped decorate the plates with all the sandwich fixings. So glad for all their help.

 Some of the other food Kent wanted: pizza rolls, sushi, root beer, BBQ chips, grapes and a vegetable platter. He cracks me up!

 On Jade and Kent's dad side of the family their is a new baby! Baby Isaac! He's 4 months old and over 20 pounds, he is a serious chunk of love. Jade and Kent were the only grand kids on that side of the family, now their are 3!

 Some party people....

This is a very special lady. Gale. Can you believe she was Kent's PRESCHOOL teacher? She is such an amazing lady. When Kent was diagnosed with autism at age 3 he started going to special preschools. One of the preschools he went to at age 4 was a special preschool just for autistic children, which was relatively new. Usually all the special needs kids were in the same group, but central kitsap was kind of the pioneers for having a preschool just for autistic children. Anyway Gale was the head teacher and you could just tell she loved her job, loved the kids and loved to help them. I've kept in touch with her thru out the years with Christmas cards but we haven't seen in her 14 years! And she came to his graduation party! It was so great talking with her and catching up, she said she always knew Kent was a shining star and she's right!

Jade and Kent with their dad, uncle Jake and his wife and their new baby Isaac!

Jade, Josh and Kenton...

Grandma Cindy, Kent, Grandpa Lee, Misty and Jade...

Some pretty girls: Aurora, Julia and Jade...

Wow- what a weekend!

And today is father's day! We went to my parents. Jade made a carrot cake for grandpa Lee. Misty and her kids also came over, and can you believe between all of us we ate the whole cake???

I forgot my camera, but my mom took some pictures. I'll get them from her soon and post some of those.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads! And congratulations to all you grads!!

Today is the day....

... that I become the mother of not one, but two adult children!!! Aaahhhh!

OK, enough about me! Today Kenton turns 18 years old. I know! I'm trying not to faint myself! How did this happen???  Well, Kent wanted to go to a sushi buffet... so that's where we all went! The happy group...

Kent and his look-a-like dad... I tried not to look too closely to Kent's food cause I know some of it still had faces... I'm dead serious... GROSS!

 Jade Lorraine eating "EEL SUSHI"... seriously! I blame their dad for getting them to eat weird things LOL! I am a very plain picky eater, so I guess it's good that the kids are more adventurous... but seafood that still has eyes on it? And eel sushi? Yuck!

 Jade and both her cute grandma's! Grandma Cindy and Grandma Claire...

 Out side we have cousins Kent and Kyle... now both 18... "Now that we're men, we can do anything, now that we're men, we can change our underwear"... (sorry, sponge bob reference... don't hate me cause I love sponge bob!)

Josh, Kent, Claire and Jade...

 Katie, Kenton, Jade and Jeromy...

 My baby... sniff sniff... it's so cliche', but he'll always be my baby... love him so much....

 Grandpa Lee, Kenton and Grandma Cindy...

 I was making a bet how long it would take Kent to fall asleep on the ride home... didn't take long...

With Kent's birthday loot, he bought himself the new 3DS.... super cool...

 OK, the rest of the pictures are just what's been going on the last couple of days. Yesterday, Josh came and got the kids and hung out all afternoon. Kid's had a great time...

 I tried a new recipe in my vitamix (did I mention how much I love this machine????) I made my own spaghetti sauce. The family said it was kinda spicy. I did add some extra spice cause I LOVE spicy, but I gotta remember to tone it down for the fam... they did eat it tho, and I was able to freeze a couple of dinners for work next week!

Last night, Jeromy and I were able to go to one of Aurora's baseball games. They are pretty fun to watch. At this age the kids really know what's going on. Aurora's mom is coaching the team, with the assistance of both Aurora's grandparents. That whole family is really into baseball! Look at Aurora's (cute) game face! The 2 people in the foreground are Aurora's grandma and grandpa...

 Aurora at bat- don't swing it's no good! And she didn't she's got a good eye...

 Look at her getting ready to run from 1st to 2nd...

 Look at the determination in her (adorable) face as she runs from 2nd to 3rd...

Tho it did not rain- I want you to know it was frickin' FREEEEEZING! It felt like we were in a wind tunnel the whole time! Glad Jeromy brought a blanket. All the parents on the bleachers were bundled up in big heavy coats... it is mid June right???

 And lastly, but not least... do you remember the "Jesus" sign my grandma had for so many years. Many of you do, my cousin Laura posted it on her blog cause she was the lucky one who got it. She remembers it as fondly as I do. Well, one of the things I got from my grandma was a small coffee table. We didn't really need it, and there wasn't anything really special about it except it was my grandma's. Well, Jeromy did something really sweet for Mother's day for me. He took the piece of furniture that we didn't really need, or have a place for and created that same "Jesus" sign that my grandma had out of the wood. It's not identical but it's the same. And it's special cause it was made out of something my grandma had. I LOVE IT!!! Jeromy is the best.

 And not only did he make me one, he made Jade one, too! So now we both have one to keep forever... so awesome!

OK... that is all. I have a couple more days to try to chill before Kent's big graduation Friday night, and his party Saturday! Too much fun!